1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to human-computer interfaces (HCI). The invention is more particularly related to a tool set for modeling and creation of a personality for an animated anthropomorphic character HCI that interacts with a user. The invention is even more particularly related to a tool set that allows the inclusion of new and the modification of existing personality attributes to produce a unique and engaging anthropomorphic character personality.
2. Discussion of the Background
Autonomous synthetic computer characters have become a technological and commercial reality in the last few years, both as alternative user interface mechanisms and as entertainment devices. The Microsoft Office Assistant, Microsoft Agent, IBM's Warp Guide, and Extempo's Imp Software are all recent attempts to commercialize user interface technology developed over the last decade at academic research institutions. The explosion in computer games which utilize synthetic characters and their increased use in television and motion pictures also indicate a strong demand for advances in this technology.
One such advance is the basic action selection architecture (BASA) developed in the ALIVE project at the MIT Media Lab. The BASA is used for run-time simulation of characters in deliverable applications.
In the BASA, behaviors are arranged in a hierarchy with those at the top of the hierarchy being more abstract categories of behavior and those at the bottom being operational in that they have simulation routines associated with them which allow the character to perform them when commanded. Behaviors at each level in the hierarchy compete every time step of the simulation for control of the character. The result of this competition is one primary behavior, which is the primary action the character performs at that time step.
However, most of the research and development in this area to date has been on realistic rendering, real-time animation, and “functional” autonomous behavior, while the issue of character personality is typically left for an animator or script writer to fashion in an “artistic” (i.e., unprincipled) manner.